DrPainMD:All smart phones spy on you all the time. The STASI wish they had the technology that the NSA has. Nuke the NSA from orbit. That's the only way to be sure.

Yeah, I'm not sure people understand what they are getting into when they buy a cell phone, much less smart phones. The convenience of having a communications device in your pocket means you give up some privacy. SOme of the snooping can be mitigated by not volunteering information (Oh yes please, Facebook, use my GPS to follow me all day long), but a lot of data is being aggregated about you by design.

MightyPez:DrPainMD: All smart phones spy on you all the time. The STASI wish they had the technology that the NSA has. Nuke the NSA from orbit. That's the only way to be sure.

Yeah, I'm not sure people understand what they are getting into when they buy a cell phone, much less smart phones. The convenience of having a communications device in your pocket means you give up some privacy. SOme of the snooping can be mitigated by not volunteering information (Oh yes please, Facebook, use my GPS to follow me all day long), but a lot of data is being aggregated about you by design.

I think I've said this before, but it was jarring when I activated my first smartphone and saw how much information it pulled down about me. I still try to take some precautions regarding privacy, but I know it's a lost cause.

Mentat:MightyPez: DrPainMD: All smart phones spy on you all the time. The STASI wish they had the technology that the NSA has. Nuke the NSA from orbit. That's the only way to be sure.

Yeah, I'm not sure people understand what they are getting into when they buy a cell phone, much less smart phones. The convenience of having a communications device in your pocket means you give up some privacy. SOme of the snooping can be mitigated by not volunteering information (Oh yes please, Facebook, use my GPS to follow me all day long), but a lot of data is being aggregated about you by design.

I think I've said this before, but it was jarring when I activated my first smartphone and saw how much information it pulled down about me. I still try to take some precautions regarding privacy, but I know it's a lost cause.

Yeah, it's actually impressive how much of you these companies have already. I've personally started to slow down my use of a lot of Google services because they probably have a dossier on me that would make the FBI jealous. But realistically I'll probably never be completely off their services.

Mentat:MightyPez: DrPainMD: All smart phones spy on you all the time. The STASI wish they had the technology that the NSA has. Nuke the NSA from orbit. That's the only way to be sure.

Yeah, I'm not sure people understand what they are getting into when they buy a cell phone, much less smart phones. The convenience of having a communications device in your pocket means you give up some privacy. SOme of the snooping can be mitigated by not volunteering information (Oh yes please, Facebook, use my GPS to follow me all day long), but a lot of data is being aggregated about you by design.

I think I've said this before, but it was jarring when I activated my first smartphone and saw how much information it pulled down about me. I still try to take some precautions regarding privacy, but I know it's a lost cause.

I was surprised at how much info it dragged out about my friends, much less myself. I connected it to my gmail and suddenly I had phone numbers for people I hadn't talked to in years.

MightyPez:DrPainMD: All smart phones spy on you all the time. The STASI wish they had the technology that the NSA has. Nuke the NSA from orbit. That's the only way to be sure.

Yeah, I'm not sure people understand what they are getting into when they buy a cell phone, much less smart phones. The convenience of having a communications device in your pocket means you give up some privacy. SOme of the snooping can be mitigated by not volunteering information (Oh yes please, Facebook, use my GPS to follow me all day long), but a lot of data is being aggregated about you by design.

No, most people understand, they just don't care because there is more to be gained by sharing with other people and the world in general. Technology is simply making the world smaller again and bringing us back to the old days of being a small village community where everyone knew everyone else's business because they were in such close quarters. Sure you can be private by living a totally private life in a remote cabin in the woods like the Unibomber, but most people don't find it a particularly rewarding existence.

Plus, the flip side of these types of devices is that you have HD resolution video and high resolution still cameras everywhere, able to tweet the smallest thing to the world in an instant, so the government suddenly has millions of Little Brothers watching its every move, keeping it in check. Plus, it is a hell of a lot harder for an innocent person to get framed for a crime when they are broadcasting their activities to the world. Hell, GPS information on the phone has even gotten people out of speeding tickets because the info contradicted what the cop's radar gun was saying. The constant data gathering cuts both ways.

Mad_Radhu:MightyPez: DrPainMD: All smart phones spy on you all the time. The STASI wish they had the technology that the NSA has. Nuke the NSA from orbit. That's the only way to be sure.

Yeah, I'm not sure people understand what they are getting into when they buy a cell phone, much less smart phones. The convenience of having a communications device in your pocket means you give up some privacy. SOme of the snooping can be mitigated by not volunteering information (Oh yes please, Facebook, use my GPS to follow me all day long), but a lot of data is being aggregated about you by design.

No, most people understand, they just don't care because there is more to be gained by sharing with other people and the world in general. Technology is simply making the world smaller again and bringing us back to the old days of being a small village community where everyone knew everyone else's business because they were in such close quarters. Sure you can be private by living a totally private life in a remote cabin in the woods like the Unibomber, but most people don't find it a particularly rewarding existence.

Plus, the flip side of these types of devices is that you have HD resolution video and high resolution still cameras everywhere, able to tweet the smallest thing to the world in an instant, so the government suddenly has millions of Little Brothers watching its every move, keeping it in check. Plus, it is a hell of a lot harder for an innocent person to get framed for a crime when they are broadcasting their activities to the world. Hell, GPS information on the phone has even gotten people out of speeding tickets because the info contradicted what the cop's radar gun was saying. The constant data gathering cuts both ways.

I would qualify that to say most people understand eventually. Take Mentat as an example. Mentat is a pretty savvy person, but still didn't know the breadth of what was collected about them until that phone was turned on. These days the data is gathered before we are aware of it. It's not until we have an "Ah ha!" moment, such as a cell phone populating our contacts, that we get a feel for how pervasive the data mining about us is.

And I don't intend that to be a judgement of people or even data mining. It's just a result of the age we live. Hell, most of these services and devices we have are so good as a result of these practices.

MightyPez:I would qualify that to say most people understand eventually. Take Mentat as an example. Mentat is a pretty savvy person, but still didn't know the breadth of what was collected about them until that phone was turned on. These days the data is ...

The worst part is that a week after I got it, I let my nephews play with it and now YouTube won't stop recommending MineCraft videos.

MightyPez:DrPainMD: All smart phones spy on you all the time. The STASI wish they had the technology that the NSA has. Nuke the NSA from orbit. That's the only way to be sure.

Yeah, I'm not sure people understand what they are getting into when they buy a cell phone, much less smart phones. The convenience of having a communications device in your pocket means you give up some privacy. SOme of the snooping can be mitigated by not volunteering information (Oh yes please, Facebook, use my GPS to follow me all day long), but a lot of data is being aggregated about you by design.

My only hope is that we've already achieved security by... well.... not obfuscation, but maybe overabundance. There's just literally too much shiat out there to be of value if anybody gets their hands on it, because it's too much data to parse.

Duke Phillips' Singing Bears:My only hope is that we've already achieved security by... well.... not obfuscation, but maybe overabundance. There's just literally too much shiat out there to be of value if anybody gets their hands on it, because it's too much data to parse.

But that's probably wishful thinking.

I'd like that to be the case too, but I get the feeling this data is way too valuable and these companies invest the resources to have the figurative ability to separate the pee from the pool to account for it.

That said, i have the S2, and some of these same features were supposed to have been released on my phone a few years ago, including that motion sensor navigation thing. They're not new, but i guess they decided to hold on to them and refine, before releasing.

MightyPez:Oh yes please, Facebook, use my GPS to follow me all day long

You do realize that the facebook application doesn't actually record your location all day. It requests access to the GPS so it can use the location tagging option when you decide that your post should include your location.

I hate facebook too and I avoid it like the plague but lets not be completely paranoid about it if we can help it.

Egoy3k:MightyPez: Oh yes please, Facebook, use my GPS to follow me all day long

You do realize that the facebook application doesn't actually record your location all day. It requests access to the GPS so it can use the location tagging option when you decide that your post should include your location.

I hate facebook too and I avoid it like the plague but lets not be completely paranoid about it if we can help it.

The Banana Thug:So disappointed. Thought it would come with a dramatically different design:

[c2499022.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com image 478x304]

There was a fake one floating around the Internet for a while, it had very sharp corners and flat. It was sexy and awesome. At least this way the GS3 owners won't have to feel terribly outdated.

Wow, look at that. When the iPhone looks the same for two years in a row, it's the end of the f**kin' world. But Samsung crows about how they're "out-innovating" Apple by making the screen slightly larger, and adding a couple of gimmicks, and it's the best thing ever.

Do you not know what the word "literally" means or do you just not care?

non-stop

Yea... "literally", right? Like when you decide to turn the feature off it's still "literally" watching you non-stop?

I never really bought into the arguments that things like this are just whines from Apple fans who can't stand to imagine that maybe they don't have the best device anymore, but I'm starting to see some potential truth in it....

Yes, but there's a HUGE difference between an app spying on your movements and reporting them back to Facebook, and you specifically posting a check in at Melon Shaker's on Wharf Avenue so all your pals will know where to meet you for a night out. That's the whole thing that is stupid about people whinging about Facebook and privacy. The whole point of the site is to share your life with your friends and family, so privacy runs counter to the point of the whole service. You just have to use common sense about it, and only post info you want people to see. Unfortunately, you have the issue of asshole friends tagging you in unfortunate photos, but you can set it up so that you get to review the tagged pictures before they are visible to your friends.

Also, Facebook is only as accurate as what you put in. For instance, I have listed in my education a degree in Shoggoth Husbandry from Miskatonic University, which is totally useless info for anyone except someone who is selling Lovecraft merchandise, in which case I might actually want to see their ads.

Yes, but there's a HUGE difference between an app spying on your movements and reporting them back to Facebook, and you specifically posting a check in at Melon Shaker's on Wharf Avenue so all your pals will know where to meet you for a night out. That's the whole thing that is stupid about people whinging about Facebook and privacy. The whole point of the site is to share your life with your friends and family, so privacy runs counter to the point of the whole service. You just have to use common sense about it, and only post info you want people to see. Unfortunately, you have the issue of asshole friends tagging you in unfortunate photos, but you can set it up so that you get to review the tagged pictures before they are visible to your friends.

Also, Facebook is only as accurate as what you put in. For instance, I have listed in my education a degree in Shoggoth Husbandry from Miskatonic University, which is totally useless info for anyone except someone who is selling Lovecraft merchandise, in which case I might actually want to see their ads.

Yes, but there's a HUGE difference between an app spying on your movements and reporting them back to Facebook, and you specifically posting a check in at Melon Shaker's on Wharf Avenue so all your pals will know where to meet you for a night out. That's the whole thing that is stupid about people whinging about Facebook and privacy. The whole point of the site is to share your life with your friends and family, so privacy runs counter to the point of the whole service. You just have to use common sense about it, and only post info you want people to see. Unfortunately, you have the issue of asshole friends tagging you in unfortunate photos, but you can set it up so that you get to review the tagged pictures before they are visible to your friends.

Also, Facebook is only as accurate as what you put in. For instance, I have listed in my education a degree in Shoggoth Husbandry from Miskatonic University, which is totally useless info for anyone except someone who is selling Lovecraft merchandise, in which case I might actually want to see their ads.

Hence me saying you can mitigate data collected by not volunteering it.. I'm a little bewildered why this is being argued.

I get a kick out of all the butthurt from the Apple fanbois. Then again, if I had an S III, I'd stick with it - it's more of an evolutionary update rather than a radical change. At least they kept the removable battery!

Besides, I'm enough of a cheap bastard that I'd rather stay a year or two out of date (e.g. Galaxy S Relay) and save some bucks. I also like having a real keyboard for any type of serious text input; on-screen keyboards suck for anything more than a few words, and I found Swype slower than even two-thumb typing on the slide-out keys.

As for privacy, well, it's mostly gone anyway - but I keep a bit of an air gap between my smartphone habits and my regular PC-based stuff. My Google account is strictly for phone-related things, and I keep a separate PC user account should I want to log into it from home to download rather than stream music I've bought from Google Play.

Flint Ironstag:Bullseyed: I find it hilarious that Apple users are complaining about Android having a feature that they "think is stupid" for a couple of reasons.

1.) It is actually butthurt jealousy that they don't have it on Apple.2.) It isn't mandatory. If you don't like it, turn it off.

Had Apple done it first it would have been the greatest thing ever.

Of course Apple will probably copy it and then they will all claim Apple invented it first. Like they did with Siri.

A coworker of mine a year or two ago when Apple swiped Android's pull down notification menu and added it to iOS: "Hey, I just got an update to my iPhone look at what it does now! Bet you wish Android did that, huh? What now, HUH?!?"

Me, after pulling my EVO 4G out of my pocket and showing her the same feature: "I've had that since I got this phone a year and a half ago. Glad iOS finally caught up on that one for you, it's a great feature."

mongbiohazard:Flint Ironstag: Bullseyed: I find it hilarious that Apple users are complaining about Android having a feature that they "think is stupid" for a couple of reasons.

1.) It is actually butthurt jealousy that they don't have it on Apple.2.) It isn't mandatory. If you don't like it, turn it off.

Had Apple done it first it would have been the greatest thing ever.

Of course Apple will probably copy it and then they will all claim Apple invented it first. Like they did with Siri.

A coworker of mine a year or two ago when Apple swiped Android's pull down notification menu and added it to iOS: "Hey, I just got an update to my iPhone look at what it does now! Bet you wish Android did that, huh? What now, HUH?!?"

Me, after pulling my EVO 4G out of my pocket and showing her the same feature: "I've had that since I got this phone a year and a half ago. Glad iOS finally caught up on that one for you, it's a great feature."

The Banana Thug:At least this way the GS3 owners won't have to feel terribly outdated.

The GS4 has features that are so advanced just like when the GS3 was first released, and my GS3 will still be competitive in the market for at least another year or so. It'll be interested to see what tech the next iPhone will bring to the table that can directly compete with the GS4.

Karne:mongbiohazard: Flint Ironstag: Bullseyed: I find it hilarious that Apple users are complaining about Android having a feature that they "think is stupid" for a couple of reasons.

1.) It is actually butthurt jealousy that they don't have it on Apple.2.) It isn't mandatory. If you don't like it, turn it off.

Had Apple done it first it would have been the greatest thing ever.

Of course Apple will probably copy it and then they will all claim Apple invented it first. Like they did with Siri.

A coworker of mine a year or two ago when Apple swiped Android's pull down notification menu and added it to iOS: "Hey, I just got an update to my iPhone look at what it does now! Bet you wish Android did that, huh? What now, HUH?!?"

Me, after pulling my EVO 4G out of my pocket and showing her the same feature: "I've had that since I got this phone a year and a half ago. Glad iOS finally caught up on that one for you, it's a great feature."

Her: "Oh goddammit."

And on that day you were truly the better person.

Better than the Apple owner who initiated the boasting comparison when they thought they had the best feature, yes.

May favourite trick is to ask an iPhone user to set a song as their ringtone. On my HTC I can do that in about four seconds, without needing a third party app.

Flint Ironstag:Karne: mongbiohazard: Flint Ironstag: Bullseyed: I find it hilarious that Apple users are complaining about Android having a feature that they "think is stupid" for a couple of reasons.

1.) It is actually butthurt jealousy that they don't have it on Apple.2.) It isn't mandatory. If you don't like it, turn it off.

Had Apple done it first it would have been the greatest thing ever.

Of course Apple will probably copy it and then they will all claim Apple invented it first. Like they did with Siri.

A coworker of mine a year or two ago when Apple swiped Android's pull down notification menu and added it to iOS: "Hey, I just got an update to my iPhone look at what it does now! Bet you wish Android did that, huh? What now, HUH?!?"

Me, after pulling my EVO 4G out of my pocket and showing her the same feature: "I've had that since I got this phone a year and a half ago. Glad iOS finally caught up on that one for you, it's a great feature."

Her: "Oh goddammit."

And on that day you were truly the better person.

Better than the Apple owner who initiated the boasting comparison when they thought they had the best feature, yes.

May favourite trick is to ask an iPhone user to set a song as their ringtone. On my HTC I can do that in about four seconds, without needing a third party app.

Sounds like you need to make some personal achievements beyond being a product consumer. I mean you are actually bragging about these things like you did something great and it makes you amazing or special..

Flint Ironstag:Karne: mongbiohazard: Flint Ironstag: Bullseyed: I find it hilarious that Apple users are complaining about Android having a feature that they "think is stupid" for a couple of reasons.

1.) It is actually butthurt jealousy that they don't have it on Apple.2.) It isn't mandatory. If you don't like it, turn it off.

Had Apple done it first it would have been the greatest thing ever.

Of course Apple will probably copy it and then they will all claim Apple invented it first. Like they did with Siri.

A coworker of mine a year or two ago when Apple swiped Android's pull down notification menu and added it to iOS: "Hey, I just got an update to my iPhone look at what it does now! Bet you wish Android did that, huh? What now, HUH?!?"

Me, after pulling my EVO 4G out of my pocket and showing her the same feature: "I've had that since I got this phone a year and a half ago. Glad iOS finally caught up on that one for you, it's a great feature."

Her: "Oh goddammit."

And on that day you were truly the better person.

Better than the Apple owner who initiated the boasting comparison when they thought they had the best feature, yes.

May favourite trick is to ask an iPhone user to set a song as their ringtone. On my HTC I can do that in about four seconds, without needing a third party app.

Ughh, my wife asked me to put some ringtones on her iphone for the first time, I actually had to google directions to figure out how to do it with itunes... On my Rezound, make a directory called Ringtones on the SD Card, put the song on the card, it shows up automatically in the ringtone menu...

Egoy3k:MightyPez: Oh yes please, Facebook, use my GPS to follow me all day long

You do realize that the facebook application doesn't actually record your location all day. It requests access to the GPS so it can use the location tagging option when you decide that your post should include your location.

I hate facebook too and I avoid it like the plague but lets not be completely paranoid about it if we can help it.

No, you're wrong. It doesn't just request GPS when you're geotagging a post, it requests GPS every time you open the app. Even if you disable geotagging in the app's settings. I don't buy that it's just requesting that data to throw it away.